average time for setups?

R

Reidwriter

Member
I'm in the middle of this indie feature I'm DP'ing. It's a mixed blessing...
anyway, the director gets frustrated with the amount of time I take away from shooting to do lighting and camera setups.
I'm averaging around an hour for load-ins and initial setups at new locations and about 30-40 minutes for significant setup changes at the same location.

Is this too long? I'll use anywhere from 1-5 lights with a few clip lights, depending on a lot of things. Usually the lights need to be gelled, diffussion or ctb etc, and I always have to wrestle with shadows. This is a no budget indie and the locations are who ever would give up space and I'm ending up with a lot of small spaces with white walls which of course equals shadow puppet theatre.

I'm really just getting into this whole world of strict "dping" and I'm wondering what those who are more experienced average time wise.

I would like to take at least twice as long to do more with the lighting, but that's not an option.
 
Re: average time for setups?

when they say the first on the set are always the hobbits to get their feet made: i am sure the light and grip were there also early.....

it really depends. basically this is one of the reasons why many productions are made in studios or why they even build sets the size of houses. to have a controlled environment that speeds up things.

setting up 5 lights can take time. it then also depends if you are alone. if you are cameraman and light and grip then things take time and adding help would save money in the long run.

when i got to the first big set and saw 35+ people standing around i was shaking my head. but after a few days i realized that less people cost more time and therefore money.
if your shots are good and the time is worth setting things up, then go for it...let the quality speak...
 
Re: average time for setups?

Lighting can be as quick as available light, and a perhaps a quick eyelight, or it can take an hour or two depending on your subject. And old DP (he work on Cleopatra) once told me the most important thing was knowing when you are done. He told me it is important to take your time, but the instant you feel you are done walk away, and leave it be. Once he was done with a setup be would say BON!, grab for his cigarettes, and walk away.
 
Re: average time for setups?

You're saying that you're completing a major setup change within half an hour? That's not bad at all. The most setups I think we've done in a day was about 35, but that was with a full crew.

An hour for load-in and first shot is not bad either. I guess it all depends on how good it looks. If the director is demanding quicker setups (which may be necessary, depending on the budget and time schedule) then there's only a few ways to do it: either compromise quality, bring on more staff, or just set up some softlights and say "there -- done." (which, I guess, is the same thing as compromising quality).

The danger, here, is that depending on how much longer the shoot might go, tempers will get short, arguments will start, etc. If I were you I'd say you need to sort this out with the director ASAP. Pull him/her aside, tell the director your concerns (if you want it to look this way, it takes this much time... if time is more important than look, we can do that too). Actually, you may find that the director would be perfectly happy with a 2-softbox & 1-rimlight look, and those setups could be roughly accomplished in 10 minutes... you will just have to talk and find out. In no-budget indies, there comes a point of "good enough" -- perhaps you could hit that point and speed up the whole process, using simpler setups? It all depends on what the director's priorities are.

(and, personally, I think the director should be using that 30-40 minutes for rehearsals, blocking and staging of the actors too -- but that's just me...) ;)
 
Re: average time for setups?

Your post raises a few questions. Were there any production design meetings before you started shooting? Did you check out the locations before the shoot? Did you meet with the Director beforehand to work out a shooting schedule? If the answer to any of these questions is no, then some important preproduction tasks were skipped. Your setup times aren't unreasonable, but if the Director is surprised then there was a lack of good communication before the production began.
Maybe the reality of the production is that you have 15-20 minutes to change your lighting setups within a location. That's not unreasonable either. It all depends on expectations.

As a tip, I'd recommend using 1-2 softboxes and a Chinese lantern on a fishpole on your production if you want to light quickly. It's not the most creative setup, but you can bang out scenes all day with 5 minute changes if that's what you need to do.
 
Re: average time for setups?

I don't think your set up times are unreasonable at all. A lot of it depends on how big your crew is. As was pointed out to me years ago;
you can have it fast, you can have it good, you can have it cheap. Pick two!
As far as quality, fresh clean oats are a different price than those that have already been through the horse.
Good luck-
 
Re: average time for setups?

Thanks for the feedback.
the main shooting is done and the whole project was a mixed blessing.

There was very little preproduction planning despite my protestations. I finally griped enough to get him to start using a shot list 3 days before we wrapped princ. photog. The schedule was a debacle in and of itself.

My biggest frustrations were when I was rushed to do a setup and then hear him complain about some shadows on the wall or some crap. Most of the locations were subpar, tiny places with white walls where the subject was right against the walls. And most times he insisted on shooting half the room at a time which severely limited my choices for back lighting.

I learned a lot, and truthfully did a lot of work that I'm proud of, but am glad it's behind me. Just a few reshoots left.
 
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